Mount Prospect chief 'done being a cop'

Michael Semkiu put his lawyer gig on hold 10 years ago, and now he's ready to give up police work too.

The Mount Prospect police chief announced Thursday that he is retiring on June 17.

The 52-year-old has been with the police department for 31 years and has been chief the last two years.

"I thought it was about the right time to end my career with law enforcement," he said. "I've had a great career. I'm done being a cop."

Dave Strahl, assistant village manager, said Semkiu is retiring voluntarily. Semkiu's base salary is $143,500 and he will receive a pension of $114,000.

"He wants to spend time with his family and do some traveling," Strahl said. "After 31 years, I don't blame him,"

The current deputy chief of field operations, Timothy Janowick is set to take over as the village's top cop. His new salary hasn't been determined, but the soon-to-be promoted police chief will be appointing a new deputy chief, Strahl said.

Reflecting on his tenure with Mount Prospect, the outgoing chief said he's most proud of helping with the department's accreditation process that began in the late 1990s. Another highlight was expanding the training opportunities available.

"We went from having basic training that we needed, to expanding the program to meet contemporary issues that everybody's been facing," he said, reverencing everything from concealed carry laws to school shooting protocols.

The hardest part of his tenure, Semkiu said, has been the budget cuts that most notably lead to the downsizing of the village's crime prevention team in 2010. What used to be an effort involving many officers is now left to one.

"The most difficult thing was the budget constraints," he said.

And it's a little-known fact that the Mount Prospect police chief is also an attorney. In fact, he finished law school in his early days on the force because he said he always wanted to be a cop and a lawyer.

"It was two things I wanted to achieve and fortunately, I was able to do it," he said.

Semkiu has been licensed since 1989 and for years juggled both jobs.

Practicing law on his days off from village duties, he specialized in property and estate planning. Semkiu gave it up as a side job in 2004 after he was promoted to deputy police chief.

And now that he's retiring from police work, Semkiu said he plans to mainly spend his time with his family and travel. First up will be Italy with his wife and 20-year-old daughter to see relatives he's never met.

"She's been happy with me staying in law enforcement. She's happy for me that I'm retiring," he said of his wife.